HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G. CHANDRAIAH AND HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE M.S.K.JAISWAL
Criminal Appeal No. 464 of 2010
Dated: 09.09.2014 Between:
Ponsuri Babu Rajendra Prasang Vs.
The State of Andhra Pradesh, Represented by Public Prosecutor, High Court, Hyderabad, through the Inspector of Police, Mylavarm Circle.
… Appellant/Accused … Respondent HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G. CHANDRAIAH AND HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE M.S.K.JAISWAL
Criminal Appeal No. 464 of 2010
JUDGMENT: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice G. Chandraiah)
This criminal appeal is preferred by the Appellant/Accused aggrieved by the judgment and conviction ordered in S.C.No. 79 of 2008, dt.10.02.2010 by the learned I-Additional District and Sessions Judge, Krishna at Machilipatnam. By virtue of the impugned judgment the accused was found guilty and convicted for the offence under Section 302 IPC, but, however, he was not found guilty and acquitted for the offence under Section 498A IPC. The trial Court imposed the punishment of life imprisonment and fine of Rs.100/- and in default of payment of fine, the accused was sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of one month for the offence under Section 302 IPC.
2. The case of the Prosecution is that the accused is a resident of G.Konduru village and the deceased was a resident of Cheruvu Madavaram, and both of them fell in love. Thereupon, the de facto complainant performed their marriage. The accused and the deceased lived together amicably for some time and were blessed with a male child, who aged about ten months at the time of the incident. Later the accused used to suspect the fidelity of the deceased, deny the paternity of the child, harass the deceased and beat her. Therefore, the deceased left her matrimonial home and was staying at China Madavaram with her mother. However, the accused used to go to their village, harass the deceased and used to beat her by suspecting her fidelity. While so, on 08.01.2007 at about 9.00 p.m., while the deceased and her mother were taking their dinner at China Madavaram, the accused went there with a kerosene tin, poured it on the deceased, set her on fire and fled away on noticing the approach of the neighbours. Though the neighbours extinguished the flames, the deceased suffered severe burn injuries. Therefore, she was shifted to the Government Hospital, Machilipatnam. T h e de facto complainant gave a statement to the police at the said hospital. The Police officials of out post of Government Hospital recorded the statement of the mother of the victim on the night of 08.01.2007 and transferred to the jurisdictional police station. On receipt of the same, the police, G.Konduru P.S. registered a case in Crime No. 4 of 2007 under Section 307 IPC on 09.01.2007 at about 12.00 noon. The Sub- Inspector of Police, G.Konduru examined the witnesses, recorded their statements, examined the scene of offence, seized the material objects, drew a rough sketch and added the section of law for the offence under Section 498-A IPC. The victim died on 13.01.2007 at 22.00 hours. Therefore, on receipt of her death intimation, police altered the section of law from Section 307 IPC to Section 302 IPC, besides 498-A IPC. The Inspector of Police verified the investigation done by the Sub-Inspector of Police, conducted inquest over the dead body of the deceased, got conducted autopsy over the dead body, arrested the accused, and after completion of the investigation filed charge sheet.
3. The learned I-Metropolitan Magistrate, Vijayawada took cognizance of the offences under Section 498-A and 302 IPC in PRC.No.33 of 2007, and after following the procedure committed the case to the Court of Sessions, since the offence under Section 302 IPC is exclusively triable the Court of Sessions. The learned Sessions Judge, Machilipatnam took the case on file as S.C.No.79 of 2008 and made over the same to the I Additional District & Sessions Judge, Krishna at Machilipatnam for disposal according to law.
4. On appearance of the accused, after hearing both sides and considering the material on record, the trial Court framed the charges for the offences under sections 498-A and 302 IPC, read over and explained the same to the accused for which the accused denied the same, pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.
5. To bring home the guilt of the accused, the prosecution examined PWs.1 to 16, marked Exs.P.1 to P.16 and M.Os.1 to 9.
The accused exhibited Ex.D.1 during the cross-examination of PW.10. After closure of the evidence of prosecution, the accused was called upon to explain the incriminating circumstances that were appearing in the evidence of prosecution witnesses, as contemplated under Section 313(1)(b) Cr.P.C. Accused denied the same and stated that himself and the deceased were living together at China Madavaram, he went on duty as lorry driver and returned three days later, and by then his wife was in hospital, he went to the hospital where his wife was in conscious state and that he went to bring money to shift her to another hospital and by the time of his return his wife died.
6. Basing on the above said material and after hearing both sides, the trial Court framed the following points for consideration:
(1) Whether the prosecution did prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused harassed the victim and thereby the guilt of the accused within the definition under Section 498- A IPC?
(2) Whether the prosecution did prove beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of the accused for the offence u/s.302 IPC?
(3) To what finding?
7. On considering the material available on record, with regard to the first point the trial Court answered the same in favour of the accused and against the prosecution, and consequently acquitted the accused for the offence under Section 498-A IPC. With regard to the second point, on considering the evidence of PWs.1 to 3, PWs.8 and 9, the trial Court convicted the accused for the offence under Section 302 IPC and sentenced him for life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs.100/-, and in default of payment of fine to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of one month. With regard to the minor child- Ponsuri Suri Babu, who was the son of the accused and the deceased, and who was aged about 4 years by then, the trial Court directed to admit the child in some S.C.Hostel, as it was found that no one is there to look after the said boy.
Aggrieved by the said judgment of conviction, the present appeal is preferred by the accused.
8. The learned counsel appearing for the accused submits that it is a case of no evidence except the alleged dying declaration of the deceased. All the material witnesses have turned hostile, and the dying declaration is a tutored one. Therefore, the trial Court ought not have found the accused guilty for the offence under Section 302 IPC and sentence him for life imprisonment. He further submits that PW.16, the Investigating Officer categorically stated that the victim/deceased was unconscious when she was making the dying declaration and the same was not considered by the trial Court. About the fitness of the deceased for the purpose of giving statement to the learned Magistrate – PW.13, the learned counsel submits that it was not certified that the deceased was physically fit to make such a statement, and in the absence of such certification about the fitness, the dying declaration, Ex.P.12, recorded by PW- 13 is invalid, and the same shall not be considered, especially when all the material witnesses have turned hostile. The learned counsel further submits that the marriage of the accused with the deceased was a love marriage and the couple lived together happily for a period of two years and there was no proof for the allegation that there was any harassment by the accused towards the deceased during their marital life, and therefore rightly the trial Court found the accused not guilty for the charge under Section 498-A IPC. The learned counsel submits that only the alleged evidence that is available on record is the dying declaration, which is not in accordance with law. Therefore, placing reliance on the decisions
[1]
reported in K.Ramachandra Reddy v. Public Prosecutor ;
[2]
Kanchy Kumaramma v. State of A.P. and Paparambaka
[3]
Rosamma v. State of A.P. , the learned counsel for the accused submits that the dying declaration recorded by the learned Magistrate was not in accordance with the provisions of Section 32 of the Indian Evidence Act. Therefore, the trial Court ought to have acquitted the accused instead of convicting him. Thus, the impugned judgment is liable to be set aside.
9. On the other hand, the learned Public Prosecutor submits that the incident took place on 08.01.2007 at 7.00 p.m. at the mother’s residence of the deceased and consequent to the incident, the mother of the deceased taken the injured to the hospital at about 10.45 p.m., the hospital authorities gave the intimation, Ex.P.10 to the police about the injuries sustained by the deceased in the hands of her husband, and at about 11.45 p.m. the intimation was also given to the jurisdictional Magistrate-PW.13 to record the statement of the deceased, intimating that the victim sustained burn injuries on account of pouring kerosene by her husband/accused and setting her on fire. It is also submitted that it is on record that on receipt of the intimation from the hospital authorities, a Police Constable (PW.12) came to the injured at Hospital and recorded the statement (Ex.P.1) of PW.1, the mother of the deceased, in which she specifically stated that the deceased sustained burn injuries due to the pouring of kerosene and setting her on fire by her husband, the accused. It is submitted that PW.13, Magistrate recorded the dying declaration of the deceased, Ex.P.12 in which the deceased categorically stated that it is her husband, who poured kerosene and set her on fire, and that PW.1 affixed her thumb-impression on Ex.P.1, though later she denied that the police recorded her statement. The learned Public Prosecutor submits that at the time of recording the statement/dying declaration, it was certified by the duty Doctor that the victim was conscious and coherent and fit to give the statement and the same was not denied. He further submits that PW-10 – P.Koteswara Rao, who was an elder of the village and rushed to the scene of offence on hearing the cries of the mother of the deceased, is an independent witness and he deposed that the deceased died due to the burn injuries. He further submits that the dying declaration recorded by the Magistrate has been corroborated with the evidence of Exs.P.1, P.10 and P.11. Therefore, the learned Public Prosecutor submits that the prosecution has substantially proved its case and the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. Hence, the trial Court on considering the entire evidence on record imposed the punishment of life imprisonment apart from a fine of Rs.100/-. Therefore, it is not a fit case for interference by this Court and submits that the appeal may be dismissed.
10. We have perused the entire record, including the impugned judgment. The contention of the learned counsel for the appellant is that the doctor, who allegedly certified about the physical fitness of the deceased was not examined as a witness, and therefore the dying declaration is invalid. The learned Public Prosecutor submits that examination of the Doctor was not necessary, as it is not denied about the certification of the doctor with regard to physical fitness of the deceased, which is available on record. In support of his contention, the learned Public Prosecutor placed reliance on the judgments of the Supreme Court in Ashabai v. State of
[4]
Maharashtra and State of Madhya Pradesh v. Dal Singh &
[5]
Others . The learned Public Prosecutor further submits that having regard to the time that has been mentioned from admission of the deceased in the hospital and the statement made by PW.1, the mother of the deceased, and the intimation that was given to the hospital authorities, police and the jurisdictional Magistrate in which it is categorically mentioned that the reason for the burn injuries received by the deceased was due to pouring of kerosene and setting her on fire by her husband, the accused. Therefore, there was no scope for tutoring by the mother of the deceased to make a false statement against the accused in her dying declaration.
11. Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case and having regard to the arguments advanced by the learned counsel for the appellant as well as the Public Prosecutor, the point that arises for consideration is as to whether the prosecution has proved its case to bring home the guilt of the accused.
12. Admittedly, the marriage of the deceased with the accused is an inter-caste and a love marriage, which took place two years prior to the date of the incident. The couple was blessed with a male child, who was aged about four years at the time of the impugned judgment. The accused was a driver by profession and used to go on driving to various places and will be away from the house for days together, and the deceased used to stay alone either at their in-laws’ house or at their mother’s residence. It is also on record that the accused had developed suspicious attitude towards the deceased about her fidelity. Apart from that, as could be seen from the record and also the evidence of PW.1, PW.10, PW.11 and PW.13, coupleld with Exs.P.1, P.10, P.11 and P.12, which are corroborating with each other, and having regard to the marital relationship between the accused and the deceased, and the allegations leveled against the accused, we are of the view that the appellant/accused is responsible for causing death of the deceased. It is also available on record that the accused was in a drunken condition at the time of his action of pouring kerosene and setting fire to the deceased. Therefore, in that drunken condition he did not know the consequences of his own actions. In that view of the matter, we are of the view that though the accused is guilty of the acts committed by him, the judgment impugned needs to be modified, as the accused is liable to be convicted for the offence under Section 304 Part-II IPC, instead of Section 302 IPC.
13. In the result, the appeal is partly allowed. The conviction and sentence of imprisonment of the accused under Section 302 IPC, imposed by the trial Court in S.C.No.79 of 2008 are set aside. Instead, the accused is convicted for the offence under Section 304 Part.II of the Indian Penal Code, and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of seven years, with set off of the period already undergone by him. However, the sentence of fine imposed by the trial Court is sustained. The material objects, if any, shall be destroyed after the appeal time.
G. Chandraiah, J.
M.S.K. Jaiswal,J.
Dt.09.09.2014 Kv HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G. CHANDRAIAH AND HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE M.S.K.JAISWAL
Criminal Appeal No. 464 of 2010 (Judgment of the Division Bench delivered by Hon’ble Sri Justice G. Chandraiah)
Dated: 09.09.2014 Kv
[1] (1976) 3 SCC 618
[2] 1995 Supp.(4) SCC 118
[3] (1999) 7 SCC 695
[4] AIR 2013 S.C. 341
[5] 2013 (2) ALD (Crl)348(SC)